Strengthening monitoring of Universal Primary Education (UPE) funds

Despite walking a distance of 10 kilometers every day, sometimes without a proper meal, the teachers at Nakalama Primary school are always at their desks at 8.00am and teach till 4.00pm. This is a drastic change from what the situation was in 2012 when a teacher would on average report to school once in a fortnight.

Nakalama Primary school is one of the sixteen schools in Iganga district that were selected to participate in the project entitled “Strengthening oversight functions for accountable service delivery” (Oversight project). Under this project, forty monitors were trained to make impromptu visits to the schools and ascertain that the resources allocated to Universal Primary Education are properly utilized.

Key Highlights

The project, “Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in the Utilisation of UPE Resources” is being implemented in partnership with the Anti-corruption coalition of Uganda.

40 monitors from eight sub-countries were trained to keep tabs on the utilization of UPE resources, helping to increase transparency and accountability.

Over 19,200 children have benefited from the reduction of teacher absenteeism as the number of teachers in attendance daily has increased from four to ten teachers.

The total cost of the project so far is 40,000 USD.

The oversight project is being implemented by the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU) with support from UNDP and with collaboration from other key players such as the Ministry of Education, Education Service Commission, the District Education Officer, the Resident District Commissioner, Chief Administrative Officers, School Management Committees, parents and pupils.

The integrity clubs formed as a result of the project have helped sensitise teachers, pupils and the entire community that transparency and accountability is a must. As Mr. Owera Wilson, the deputy head teacher at Nakalama Primary School puts it, “Before ACCU came in to explain to us the benefits of being more accountable, we were totally lost.”